Egyptian protesters rally to keep Islamist in race

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 file photo, Egyptian Muslim cleric and candidate for the Egyptian presidency Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, center, is guarded by his supporters as he enters Tahrir Square during a protest against the ruling military council, in Cairo, Egypt. Trying to unite divided Islamists behind him, the presidential hopeful of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has promised to give religious clerics power to review legislation to ensure it is in line with Islamic law, a group of ultraconservative Muslim clerics said Wednesday. Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater is trying to avert a split in the votes of religious conservatives in next month's presidential election. The Brotherhood is Egypt's strongest fundamentalist group, but several other Islamists are running in the vote _ particularly Hazem Abu Ismail, who has strong support among Salafis, the most hard-line religious movement in Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
— AP

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 file photo, Egyptian Muslim cleric and candidate for the Egyptian presidency Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, center, is guarded by his supporters as he enters Tahrir Square during a protest against the ruling military council, in Cairo, Egypt. Trying to unite divided Islamists behind him, the presidential hopeful of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has promised to give religious clerics power to review legislation to ensure it is in line with Islamic law, a group of ultraconservative Muslim clerics said Wednesday. Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater is trying to avert a split in the votes of religious conservatives in next month's presidential election. The Brotherhood is Egypt's strongest fundamentalist group, but several other Islamists are running in the vote _ particularly Hazem Abu Ismail, who has strong support among Salafis, the most hard-line religious movement in Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
/ AP

FILE - In this Friday, March 30, 2012 file photo, supporters of Egyptian presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a prominent Salafi, celebrate in front of a giant campaign banner at the Higher Presidential Elections Commission, in Cairo, Egypt. Trying to unite divided Islamists behind him, the presidential hopeful of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has promised to give religious clerics power to review legislation to ensure it is in line with Islamic law, a group of ultraconservative Muslim clerics said Wednesday. Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater is trying to avert a split in the votes of religious conservatives in next month's presidential election. The Brotherhood is Egypt's strongest fundamentalist group, but several other Islamists are running in the vote _ particularly Hazem Abu Ismail, who has strong support among Salafis, the most hard-line religious movement in Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)— AP

FILE - In this Friday, March 30, 2012 file photo, supporters of Egyptian presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a prominent Salafi, celebrate in front of a giant campaign banner at the Higher Presidential Elections Commission, in Cairo, Egypt. Trying to unite divided Islamists behind him, the presidential hopeful of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has promised to give religious clerics power to review legislation to ensure it is in line with Islamic law, a group of ultraconservative Muslim clerics said Wednesday. Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater is trying to avert a split in the votes of religious conservatives in next month's presidential election. The Brotherhood is Egypt's strongest fundamentalist group, but several other Islamists are running in the vote _ particularly Hazem Abu Ismail, who has strong support among Salafis, the most hard-line religious movement in Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
/ AP

CAIRO 
Thousands rallied in Cairo on Friday in support of an ultraconservative Islamist presidential hopeful who may be disqualified from the race after it was announced that his mother was an American citizen.

The protesters carried photos and campaign posters of Hazem Abu Ismail, a 50-year-old lawyer-turned-preacher who in recent months vaulted to become one of the strongest contenders for president, with widespread backing from ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis.

The showdown between Abu Ismail's supporters and the government has shaken-up a race that includes former regime officials and Islamists competing against one another in the first presidential election since last year's ouster or Hosni Mubarak. The balloting is slated for the end of May.

Abu Ismail's face- smiling, with a long, conservative beard - has become ubiquitous in Cairo and other cities because of a startlingly aggressive postering campaign that plastered walls and lampposts with his picture.

Egypt's election commission, which announced Thursday that Abu Ismail's mother was a U.S. citizen, did not outright disqualify him because it has yet to start vetting would-be candidates' applications. A law put in place after Mubarak's fall stipulates that a candidate may not have any other citizenship than Egyptian - and that the candidate's spouse and parents cannot have other citizenships as well.

As his disqualification looked increasingly likely, Abu Ismail said Thursday he faces an "elaborate plot" against him and insisted his mother only had a Green Card to visit her daughter, who is married to an American and lives in the United States.

The announcement about his mother is particularly embarrassing for Abu Ismail, who has used anti-U.S. rhetoric in his campaign speeches and says he rejects "dependency" on America.

His campaign team claims the country's military rulers, who took over after Mubarak's ouster, are looking for ways to disqualify him as a candidate. As his supporters began marching after Friday prayers down a main Cairo street toward the central Tahrir Square, his campaign chief, Gamal Saber, said the ruling military council is "lying about the sheik."

"We have proof that his mother is not American," Saber said, adding that their supporters are prepared "to die in Tahrir Square" to fight the "fraud".

A follower of the ultra-conservative Salafi trend of Islam, Abu Ismail has been among the front-runners in the race. If he is disqualified, it opens the door for Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater to win a greater number of Islamist votes. Another Islamist in the race is Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a reform minded physician who was expelled from the Brotherhood last year and is trying to appeal both to religious and more secular-minded Egyptians.

An election win by an Islamist candidate would mirror Egypt's recent parliamentary elections, where the Brotherhood won nearly half of the seats in parliament and the Salafi Al-Nour party came in second, with a quarter of the seats.

Abu Ismail's supporters say he will cleanse the country of corrupt officials by enforcing a strict application of Islamic law.

A preacher speaking to the crowd at Tahrir Square on Friday said the attacks against Abu Ismail amounted to attacks against God's rule. "It is a case of war against the religion, against Islamic law," said the preacher, who was not identified.